Earlier this week we saw a man who was in distress who thought he was having a heart attack in a parking lot. We helped him out, called his ex wife & waited with him for the ambulance. Firefighters arrived first & almost immediately judged him as a drug user.
They were brisk & at times, unkind. At one point, their hostility was escalating him so I got on the ground with him, asked him to breathe with me & walked him through a breathing exercise. His heart rate went from 150 to 120 in just a few minutes.
Feb 5, 2023 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
Tips for dealing with the narcissist in your life:
A 🧵:
First, not everyone is clinically a narcissist. It’s a very small number of people who meet the criteria.
Human behavior is on a scale—so imagine the opposite of narcissist on the left and clinical narcissism on the right.
We all fall somewhere on that scale.
Feb 2, 2023 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
Today, I’m thinking of Vivien Thomas, a man who was paid & classified as a janitor at Johns Hopkins despite running a lab, doing the work of a post-doc and developing pioneering heart surgery that saved infants.
Despite developing the surgery that saved lives & coaching the surgeon through the process, he wasn’t credited in academic journals for his role. He often had to take bartending jobs that the surgeon he trained hosted to make ends meet.
Jan 31, 2023 • 21 tweets • 4 min read
A short story about medical racism:
My son has had three surgeries within the last three months.
During one of the surgeries, I encountered a Karen
🧵
I am not naming the institution right now as I am going through their grievance process.
If they don’t do right, I will name and shame. I also have proof of my claims that I will drop if needed. They won’t review said proof due to policy.
